Payment on the Past
by Shadowed Seas
Summary: Back before the war it was said that Duo had made a deal with the God of Death, but it was never known that it was true. Now, in AC 201, Duo’s part of the deal is due, and payment isn’t going to be easy.
1. And it begins

_Payment on the Past_

By Shadowed Seas

This is a new idea I had recently, and I decided to run with it. This story is not one that I have really planned out like the others I am trying to work on, and it looks like it might take quite a few chapters to get it out, so you'll have to be a little lenient about how it takes shape. For future reference, if something in one of the chapters doesn't make sense or contradicts something else I already wrote, please tell me. I hate continuity errors, and I will really try to not make any, but you should keep an eye out just in case. The story itself is looking like a supernatural-mystery kind of thing, but I'm not sure yet. I don't have any plans for a romantic side plot or anything, but one may develop anyway, so be warned. Now here is the more official drabble about the story, I hope you read and enjoy.

Summary: Back before the war, when Duo was the only survivor of the Maxwell Church Massacre, some soldiers speculated that he had made a deal with the God of Death. Though they didn't know it, their figure of speech was a truth, a truth that had Duo referring to himself as Shinigami during the war. But now, in AC 201, Duo's part of the deal is due, and payment isn't going to be easy.

Warning: This story contains violence, probably some questionable language in the future, and death. So far there is no yaoi, yuri, or any real relationship that goes beyond friendship between the characters, but some may develop in future chapters, so continue to check the warnings if you don't like to read about certain types of relationships. There may be a few spoilers, mostly general stuff about the story. This fic is set in the future of the Gundam Wing world, kinda. There will be supernatural phenomena that don't really fit in the original Gundam Wing universe, so it might be considered AU. As with my other fic, characters may seem a little OOC, and for that I apologize to Gundam Wing fans.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine. There. That's it. Now go read the story.

**Chapter 1: And it begins…**

He was running. Running fast enough that the wind rushed past as he moved, blowing his hair back from his face. His rapid footsteps echoed in the cool night air as he dashed past the empty industrial buildings that lined both sides of the street. He ducked his head a bit and tried to push his burning legs to run faster, to stretch farther, but adrenaline could only do so much. His heart was hammering in his chest, pounding like it was trying to come out, and his breath was coming in short gasps, begging for air, but he couldn't stop running.

If he stopped, he would die.

Through his panting breaths he managed to hear the sounds of running behind him grow louder as his pursuer gained a little more ground on him. His panic spiked higher and he looked around desperately for someway, _anyway_, he could get away from here and survive this. The dim glow from the streetlights showed a small side street between two of the silent buildings just a little farther ahead, and he dared hope that it might lead to people and the safety offered in the more populated areas of the city.

Still hoping against hope for his salvation from the shadow that was stalking him, he ducked around the corner…only to skid to a stop at the blank wall ahead of him. The dead end offered no protection, no doors to try, no places to hide, and as he spun around and lunged back towards the street he knew that it was already too late.

The sight of the shadowy figure blocking the entrance of the alley froze him where he stood. His eyes widened in terror until the whites showed around the edges, and the shaking of his legs almost dropped him to the ground. He backed up as the other figure slowly advanced towards him, a black cloak completely concealing his dark pursuer.

"W…w…wh…wha…what do you w…w…want? Ple…Please leave me alone. I...I...I don't have any money or anything..."

His back met the wall at the end of the alley, halting his retreat and providing him with support beyond his fear-weak legs.

The hidden person answered in a dark voice that didn't seem normal. It echoed hollowly, as if the words had been spoken from within a tunnel. The lack of emotion, or even intonation, made shivers creep up his already quivering back.

"I want nothing…and that is what I shall achieve."

The figure suddenly _moved_, its actions far faster than his eyes could track, everything reduced to impressions in his mind as he struggled to grasp what was happening. There was a shifting at the shadow's side, a glint of silvery metal, a brilliant flash of light the color of blood, a flare of pain, and then darkness swallowing him whole…

Duo Maxwell jerked upright with a gasp, his eyes blindly searching the darkness of the familiar room as he panted in fear and shock. Sweat dripped down his pale chest and made his bangs stick to his forehead, his slightly damp braid a twisted rope behind him. His body lost its shocked stiffness as he recognized his surroundings, and he flopped back down on the bed in sudden exhaustion as the panic and adrenaline stopped. Duo's wide violet eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling as he tried to calm his breathing, confusion and the dregs of fear still on his face.

"What the fuck was that!"

TBC…

- I hope that was okay, and sorry it's so short. I thought that this might be a good spot to end the first part. It will probably take a while to update, so don't be expecting anything too soon. See ya next chapter.


	2. When the Dreaming Ends

_Payment on the Past_

By Shadowed Seas

Author's Note: I don't really have anything new to write about the story. Got this chapter out a little faster than expected, mainly because it seems that my muse has decided that it likes to work on these more than my physics homework… Oh, and just wanted to say thanks to _Thursday's Dove_ and _twitchyfingers_ for reviewing. I am glad that the story went over well. And to _Thursday's Dove_: Whoops…well typos do make things interesting. I meant to put AC 201 not AC 121, thanks for the pointer, I went back and changed it so it should make sense now. I do my own betaing, so little mistakes might slip under the radar. If you or any other readers happen to notice any errors, whether they be grammatical or informational, please let me know. Thanks again.

Summary: Back before the war, when Duo was the only survivor of the Maxwell Church Massacre, some soldiers speculated that he had made a deal with the God of Death. Though they didn't know it, their figure of speech was a truth, a truth that had Duo referring to himself as Shinigami during the war. But now, in AC 201, Duo's part of the deal is due, and payment isn't going to be easy.

Warning: This story contains violence, questionable language, and death. There is still no yaoi, yuri, or any real relationship that goes beyond friendship between the characters, and it doesn't really look like there will be, but continue to check the warnings if you don't like to read about certain types of relationships. There may be a few spoilers, mostly general stuff about the story. This fic is set in the future of the Gundam Wing world, kinda. There will be supernatural phenomena that doesn't really fit in the original Gundam Wing universe, so it might be considered AU. As with my other fic, characters may seem a little OOC, and for that I apologize to Gundam Wing fans.

Disclaimer: I own very few things. Sadly, Gundam Wing is not one of them. Fortunately, a bag of chocolate is. Thanks for reading, now I must answer the call of my one true love: dark chocolate.

**Chapter 2: When the Dreaming Ends**

_Duo's wide violet eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling as he tried to calm his breathing, confusion and the dregs of fear still on his face._

"_What the fuck was that!"_

* * *

The edges of the window shade glowed a bit as the predawn light seeped through, dimly lighting the room. The clock at the side of the bed proclaimed it to be 6:09 standard time in glaring red neon, but the room's only occupant didn't seem to care that he had been awake for over five hours.

Duo had spent the rest of the night lying uneasily in his bed, unable to get back to sleep. Nightmares weren't uncommon for him, he had seen too many things to not have nightmares, but this dream was different. He usually saw faces from his past in his dreams: Solo, Father Maxwell, Sister Helen, hundreds of nameless soldiers from the war, a parade of guilt. But this was a new one. He hadn't recognized anything in the dream, neither the people nor the location, and the dream itself had been more intense then usual, more…_real_.

Duo groaned and threw his arm over his eyes. Okay. So, he had had a weird creepy nightmare in technicolor and surround-sound. It was just his brain going over all the extra junk in his head. Maybe he had eaten something last night that caused strange dreams…or something.

Whatever.

Since it was starting to get light out, and he doubted that he would be able to get back to sleep if he tried – after all, he had been trying to get back to sleep for the last five hours, he didn't think another two would change anything – he decided that he might as well get up and go for a jog. But first, there was his morning ritual, his daily worship.

Duo wandered out to the kitchen and dug into the cabinets for a moment before emerging with a large can. Popping the lid open he stuck his nose in the opening and inhaled the scent of what he considered one of the earth's most precious substances, coffee.

Pouring double the proscribed amount of grounds into the filter, Duo started up the machine and then tried to think of something to do while his coffee was brewing. He looked around his apartment, studying the haphazard clutter that always formed wherever he lived. The apartment was finally starting to look less like an apartment, and more like _his_ apartment. That was partly due to his stuff being strewn all over the floor and furniture, but it was more because the apartment was starting to feel lived in, comfortable.

He hadn't minded his previous place on L2, it was actually a little bit bigger than this set of rooms, but he really liked living on earth. He had missed having real weather and fresh air when he was on the colony. There was just something about being on earth that made him feel better, almost calm, though no one who knew him would believe it.

He smiled and leaned back against the counter. No, none of the people who knew him would associate Duo Maxwell and calm, the two just didn't mix. The people from the University would especially protest that word being used to describe the student who had managed to blow up a lab, fill the school pool with jell-o, and paint all the mascot costumes pink, all in his first few weeks.

His eyes grew a little distant again as he thought about the University. It had been about two months since he had come here. The government big-wigs had finally gotten most of their paperwork and treaties all written up between each other, and then – since they had nothing else to worry about – they had gotten nervous about the ex-terrorists who had made their positions possible. They wanted to keep all the Gundam pilots from ever considering going against _their_ government, so they offered all five of them compensation for the war in the form of a free college education at the institution of their choice as well as a few other benefits, like fully paid health care and tax exemption for the rest of their lives.

Quatre had declined the offer to go to school, saying that the family business wouldn't allow him to dedicate the necessary time to his classes. Wufei had just scoffed at the idea of wasting his time learning what he already knew, or didn't need to know, and stayed with the Preventers. Trowa decided to take online courses instead of actually going to a college, so that he could still stay with his sister and the traveling circus. Duo thought that he had said he would be majoring in animal science or veterinary science or something. Well, whatever each of them had decided about college, all three had accepted the tax offer.

Duo had taken the full deal, deciding that it was time for a change. There hadn't been anything wrong with running the savage yard with Hilde, the work had been interesting and it was great being able to spend a lot of time with a friend, but he had been starting to get restless. When he was growing up on L2, he lived wherever he could find shelter on the streets until he was brought to the Maxwell church, and he only got to live there for a little under two years. After that he was constantly moving, first on his own, then with G, and then as a pilot with the other guys. The fact that he had managed to stay on L2 with Hilde as long as he had was surprising.

As for the last pilot, the officials hadn't been able to find him in order to give him the offer in the first place.

Heero had been installed as Relena's head of security almost as soon as he recovered from his injuries after the Mariemaia incident, and had led her security team right up until eight months ago. Duo didn't know exactly what had happened, he obviously hadn't been there, but he had heard that Heero had just come in one day, talked to Relena in private for about fifteen minutes, and then walked out of the residence. His second was immediately promoted, and everyone went on as if nothing had changed, but the fact that Heero Yuy had apparently decided to just up and disappear one day had everyone who knew him in shock. All of the other pilots had tried several times to track him down, or to at least get in touch with him through email, but there had been nothing. They had all finally decided that since Heero had made it impossible for anyone to find him, they would respect his wishes and stop their search. Heero would find them when he was ready to come back.

Duo sighed and checked the coffee maker, willing it to go faster by the power of his glare, muttering derogatory comments when the flow didn't change. He really wanted to get going, this train of thought was getting melancholy, and he was going to have enough problems today with the whole lack-of-sleep thing without being depressed too. Luckily today was a light day, only two classes, so he could just crash as soon as he got home. He had started to go over his homework schedule in his head, trying to remember if a lab was due this week or next when the beeping of the coffee maker interrupted his mental debate and sent all thoughts of school running.

Grabbing a large mug with one hand and the coffee pot with the other, Duo plunked himself down at the table and shoveled several scoops of sugar into the mug before filling it to the brim. A quick stir and then a sip of the still scalding hot liquid had Duo in his own personal nirvana.

* * *

He loved running just for exercise, especially since until recently running usually meant that someone was chasing him. Running while being chased is always nerve-wracking, and usually involves rapid changes in direction, dodging bullets, and lots of adrenaline pushing you forward. On the other hand, this kind of running, especially when done in the early morning, was soothing and almost meditative with its steady pace.

Duo followed his normal path, going a few blocks down to the park, and then following a twisting route through the trees that was not used by the majority of park-goers as it went in the opposite direction of the playground and picnic tables. Once in a while he would pass another runner or someone with a dog, but mostly he was alone.

It was because of this that when he noticed the shadow he didn't dismiss it as another runner. It was only in his peripheral vision, and as soon as he turned his head to look at it, it disappeared, but he knew he had seen it. Suddenly a little more cautious as he kept his steady pace, Duo began slowly scanning the trees, looking for potential danger areas.

He was probably overreacting. The shadow was probably a dog or a bird or some other animal, and his paranoia was most likely making a big deal over something trivial, but…but he felt almost uneasy about it. The shadow had looked big, bigger than most animals that would be in the park. And anything that big would have been easily seen when he looked over, and it would have made noise had it moved away. It might have been a tree's shadow moving in the wind, but the sun was still too low on the horizon for the angle to be right.

His scan revealed nothing of any help. The trees here weren't tightly packed, and the underbrush was mostly very low bushes and ferns, leaving few hiding places. He couldn't see anyone or anything that might be considered a threat, but he still felt edgy. It felt almost like someone was watching him, but the shiver that slid down the back of his neck was...off from the usual someone-is-staring-at-you feeling.

Duo spent the rest of his run constantly watching his surroundings. He saw two runners, an old man feeding some birds, a woman walking her dog, and a bicyclist, but none of them did anything out of the ordinary and the shadow didn't put in another appearance. As he unlocked his door and went to get ready he tried to put the whole thing out of his mind as just a trick of the light, but he strapped on one of his wrist mounted throwing knives before he grabbed his books and a last cup of coffee on the way to class.

* * *

The door swung open and smacked into the wall with a bang as Duo half staggered into his apartment. Kicking the abused door closed behind him, he managed to make it to the living room before he collapsed on the coach, dropping his bag by the coffee table. His face burrowed into a pillow, while he absently kicked off his shoes and then did his best to melt into the cushions.

He didn't know why he kept forgetting Professor Martnik's apparent goal to win the monotone voice award, but the struggle to stay conscious for the hour and a half lecture had left him completely drained. Even though the coursework was almost too basic for him, he knew he should probably do at least a little of it or maybe read the assigned chapters, but he currently couldn't care less, and the desire to just close his eyes overcame everything else. Within seconds his breathing evened out, only the gentle rise and fall of his chest showing that he was still among the living.

* * *

The world swung slightly as she contemplated the wisdom of having those last few beers, her feet moving slowly as she struggling to walk a straight line. Finally reaching the corner without too much trouble, she paused and blinked blearily up at the traffic light. Contemplating the glowing red hand, she tried to figure out how much farther there was left to go before she reached her dorm. The party had been several streets beyond the main campus grounds and she had walked a few blocks already, so it shouldn't be too much longer. Pleased that that was figured out, she absently blinked at the light before realizing it had changed to a white stick figure.

She crossed the empty intersection with the carefully swaying walk of the very drunk, her steps sounding loud in the empty early morning streets. A siren sounded dimly in the distance and then faded as it moved away, the silence reigning once again. The sky was still dark, but the slightly graying horizon hinted that dawn would not be long in coming.

The girl's meandering path drew her slowly closer to campus, until she was only a little over a block away from the green. A sudden change in her surroundings caused the college student to frown and pause as she looked around. The street around her had grown very dark, as several of the streetlights had gone out. Looking ahead she could see the bright lights of the campus promising safety and a warm bed, and with no more thought to the odd darkness she started forward again.

With a drunken haze clouding her senses and her mind occupied with thoughts of sleep, it wasn't surprising that the footsteps that suddenly started up behind her went unnoticed. It wasn't until a hiss of metal against metal sounded from only a few feet behind her that she noticed anything, and as she turned, sudden fear managed to break through the alcohol, but it was far too late for her to do anything but scream as she died.

The darkness came down on Duo again with the girl's death as he was left breathing hard in shock, but unlike the last dream, he did not wake-up. Instead a glowing mist rose up from the darkness around him, limiting his visibility to maybe fifteen feet in any direction. It was hard to tell exactly as his only reference was the wall of mist, and that kept shifting. To make it all even more disorienting, the mist contained glowing multi-colored lights that would brighten and dim randomly as they moved around.

Pushing thoughts about the disturbing dream and his current surroundings aside, Duo looked down, almost startled to see himself instead of somebody else. He frowned a bit as he noticed he was dressed in his old black priest's outfit, but dismissed it as unimportant. Turning in a slow circle, Duo found himself at a loss. Should he stay where he was, should he walk through the mist and try to look around, or should he just screw the dream and make himself wakeup?

His debate was cut short when the mist-lights all flashed once and then froze as a voice suddenly broke the silence.

"_It is time to complete the deal."_

Duo spun around, looking for the source of the voice that echoed around him in the mist.

"What?"

"_It is time to complete the deal."_

"What deal? Who's there? Dammit! Stop hiding and come out where I can see you!" Not being able to pinpoint the source of the voice was making Duo edgy, and Duo really didn't like being edgy.

A dark chuckle that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The creepy laugh slowly grew quieter and stopped echoing before it ceased.

"Don't get angry little one," The amused voice was still deep, but it no longer had the creepy undertones and echoes that had been freaking him out. Duo froze as he suddenly sensed someone right behind him. "I'm right here."

Duo spun around again, only to stare in shock as he came face-to-face with…himself. Slowly overcoming the initial surprise, he realized that while the person in front of him did have a strong resemble to him, the stranger was not an exact replica. Their black clothes were the same, but while Duo's hair was still restrained in a tight braid behind his back, the stranger had his flowing loose around him. The hair itself was also different, a darker shade of brown that bordered on black instead of Duo's lighter chestnut. His skin was impossibly pale, almost like it had never seen sunlight, and his fingers ended in claw-like points instead of normal nails. The bastard was also several inches taller Duo noted with irritation. It seemed that everyone was taller than he was, even weird, clawed look-alikes who hid in creepy fog. His annoyance disappeared as he stared at the stranger's face, or more specifically, his eyes. While he had often gotten comments on the odd coloration of his eyes, his were completely normal when compared to the pair in front of him. Instead of the normal coloration there was nothing. There wasn't any iris or whites; it was as if there was an endless void where the eyes should be.

Duo quickly focused his gaze on the stranger's nose and mouth, he really didn't want to think about those eyes…things were creepy enough as it was.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" Resorting to irritation seemed like the best choice in this situation, especially since the only other option he could think of involved him running away as fast as he could.

"Aw, don't tell me that you have forgotten me already little one. I would have thought you to have a better memory than that. Especially after all we've done together." The mocking grin on the creepy stranger's face made Duo want to deck him, and it was a tribute to his self-restraint that he was able to keep his hands fisted at his side as the source of his irritation continued speaking.

"Still can't remember me? I'm hurt, really I am. After all, I only give the honor of sharing a part of my consciousness to a very select few, so it makes perfect sense that I should expect them to recognize me."

Duo froze at those words, staring wide eyed at the figure in front of him.

"Shinigami…" His voice came out as a barely audible whisper, but the recently identified God of Death smirked wider, showing that he had obviously heard the name.

"So you haven't completely forgotten me little one. I'm so relieved."

Duo had just managed to pull his jaw off the floor, and at the sardonic words he bristled and promptly forgot his stunned amazement of moments ago.

"What the hell are you doing in my head? I don't need to fight anymore, you're supposed to be gone!"

Shinigami shook his head slowly, the smirk never leaving his face. "And when did I ever say that? You wanted me to help you make sure that those who had killed your loved ones paid for it, you never brought up anything about afterwards."

Duo glared at him but gave in grudgingly. "Fine. But that still doesn't explain what you want." He paused at the memory of the Death God's previous words. "And what the hell does 'It is time to complete the deal' mean?"

At this Shinigami lost his smirk, his expression becoming serious. "You made a deal with death, and death's part has been fulfilled. Now it is time for your half of the bargain to be paid."

The God's serious expression in exchange for his earlier superior smirk made Duo uneasy, and his nerves weren't helped any by the new topic.

"Okay. So what's my payment for the bargain?"

Shinigami just gazed at him with his freaky eyes, his expression unchanging. After an endless moment of silence the God tilted his head and spoke almost tonelessly.

"Well little one, I need either your death, or your life."

TBC…

* * *

Well, sorry about the cliffhanger-esque ending, but that was the best idea I could come up with for ending the chapter. I really liked writing Shinigami, he was so much fun to do. Really hope you enjoyed the longer chapter, I plan to do most of them at least this long if I can. I have no idea when the next chapter will come out, there needs to be some major plot planning sessions before I get anything else out. I'm not sure if I should pull any of the other pilots in just yet, eventually at least one or two of them will be brought in, but I don't know who or when. The full explanation about the deal will probably be in one of the next two or three chapters, I think. Oh well, until next time, Ciao!


	3. Keepers and Kittens

_Payment on the Past_

By Shadowed Seas

Author's Note: Exams are the bane of college existence. I could get along quite well if exams didn't exist. How am I supposed to remember over a month's worth of learning and apply it correctly at 9 am? I can barely remember what day it is at 9 in the morning, never mind what formula should be used to find the correct voltage of a driven circuit. Argh. Sorry. Rant done. Anyway, that is my excuse for taking so long with this chapter, I hope the length makes up a bit for the lateness. And just wanted to say thanks to _Thursday's Dove_ and _Sutoomu_ for reviewing. I am glad you enjoyed it, and to _Thursday's Dove_, yes all will be explained as the story goes on, although it may take awhile, and the other pilots will start coming in over the next few chapters.

Summary and Warning on previous chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. I also apparently don't own a working iron anymore. Excuse me for a moment while I beat my roommate over the head with my once working iron in an effort to explain the concept of respecting other people's property.

**Chapter 3: Keepers and Kittens**

_Shinigami just gazed at him with his freaky eyes, his expression unchanging. After an endless moment of silence the God tilted his head and spoke almost tonelessly._

"_Well little one, I need either your death, or your life." _

* * *

Duo stared. He closed his eyes and tried to wake himself up. Hoping to be back in his apartment he opened his eyes. Nope. Nothing had changed. He was still in the weird mist world with the God of Death, who was looking at him with something like detached curiosity, only a great deal creepier. No matter how much he wished for it, somehow he really didn't think that Shinigami was gonna shout 'Gotcha!' anytime soon, thus removing the option of this being a really complex joke. As he couldn't wake himself up, he was left contemplating a possibility he _really_didn't want to think about. Unfortunately, a distinct lack of other options or distractions pretty much forced him to go along with the Death God. And since the god didn't look like he was going to start explaining anytime soon, it was up to him to do something.

"Uh…what?"

Yeah that was him, Mr. Articulate. Next he would try to form a complete sentence. '_Or maybe you could mimic Heero.'_ Yeah right, he didn't think he had deteriorated to communicating through grunts just yet, although it _had_ worked for Heero…and _dammit_, now is really _not_ the time to start having conversations with himself. He could have a schizophrenic breakdown later, right now he had to deal with his presently screwed situation.

"To pay your debt, you need to give me either your death or your life."

"But what the hell does that _mean_!" Duo definitely wanted to just wake up now and have this all be a really weird dream. He was way too close to completely freaking out, he didn't have anywhere to run or hide, and since he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to take on the God of Death in a fistfight, all he had left to resort to was anger. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately considering who he was facing, Shinigami smiled very slightly and moved forward, almost flowing towards him.

"Don't worry little one, you will wake up soon. After all, you are only taking a little nap after a boring day of classes and a bad night's sleep." Shinigami's slight smile changed into a smirk that spread across his face, making Duo tense in unease. "But that doesn't make this any less real, and it certaintly doesn't save you from needing to choose."

Duo's increasing panic must have been clearly visible on his face, since the God of Death tilted his head and moved his hand in something that could have been meant to be soothing. As it was the god himself that was causing Duo's fear, the gesture was essentially useless.

"It's alright little one, I won't make you decide now." Shinigami continued to slowly move forward, his movements suddenly changing from gliding to almost like he was stalking prey.

Duo slowly edged backwards until he came up against the wall of mist, forcing him to stop. The god was definitely getting way too close, and since when had mist been able to become solid? Before Duo could try to move away, Shinigami placed a hand on his head, almost as if he was a priest giving a blessing. The other hand came up to Duo's chest and rested right over his heart. There was a flash of heat and Duo stiffened as...something…pulsed through him. "In three days we shall speak again, and you shall give me your answer. Until then, a keeper will come to aid you."

Something made Duo glance up, and now he was trapped in the emptiness of those eyes. They seemed to expand in his vision until all he could see was that terrible emptiness. He wanted to look away, he wanted to run, he wanted to scream and collapse into a little ball on the ground, but he couldn't move. Then Shinigami's original voice was back, echoing around him.

"_You have three days my little one, three days. Now…AWAKE!"_

* * *

Duo bolted up from the couch, staring at nothing. His heart was pounding and his breath was coming as hard as if he had just run a marathon, but he felt like ice. Slowly coming to himself he looked around the room.

It was still light out, not much time had passed. A glance at the clock had him staring in disbelief at the fact that only about half an hour had gone by since he had gotten home. It had felt like he had spent a _lot_ more time in his dream than that.

Ugh. He grimaced slightly at the thought of the dream. That had been entirely too creepy for him to deal with right now. Too creepy and too real. Maybe it was stress, though what he would be stressed about was beyond him. His classes were almost too easy. His training for becoming a Gundam pilot and working with the Sweepers had covered more science and engineering than was taught at most universities, never mind in any single course, allowing him to breeze through with A's.

Well, whatever had caused the dream could go and off itself, he was going to take a hot shower, eat food that was in no way good for him, and then watch some really bad movies without thinking about freaky dreams or payment of a deal made with the God of Death. Nope, not thinking about that at all. His mind was completely blanking out all freakiness.

Shit. He needed a drink.

Standing up from the couch Duo absently stretched and made a detour to the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge before heading into the shower. He snapped opened the can and took a long swallow before setting down the drink on the bathroom counter and stripping off his shirt. He dropped the shirt on the floor behind him and as turned back around to reach for the beer, absently glancing up at the mirror above the counter before freezing with his hand outstretched towards the can.

He stared blankly at his reflection, barely noticing his hand hovering in midair. There, on his chest directly above his heart, was what appeared to be something very much like a tattoo. A ring of black symbols that looked like a mix of kanji and hieroglyphics, it was about the size of his palm and seemed like it had been done a while ago. The only problem with it was that Duo had never gotten a tattoo…ever.

He moved his hand to his chest, still staring at the mirror, and when the tattoo didn't disappear, he stared down, poking lightly at the black symbols. Black symbols that were directly on the spot where Shinigami had placed his hand in the dream.

"How the hell did I get a tattoo in a dream! It was a _dream_!"

'_Well maybe it wasn't a dream.'_ It had to have been a dream, he had been _asleep_. _'Being asleep doesn't really prove that it was a dream. You just don't want it to be anything else.'_ Damn. He hated getting into debates with himself. Especially because he did it so often.

"Nope, not even gonna think about _that_ possibility."

'_You would rather be hallucinating a tattoo on your chest after a very strange "dream" involving the God of Death discussing you paying a debt with, and I quote, "Your death or your life"?'_

"Yes. Yes I would. Cause then I'm just crazy, and I can deal with crazy. Hell, crazy is normal for me!"

'_Especially during arguments with yourself, right?'_

"Shove it."

Duo stumbled out of the bathroom, forgetting both the shower and the beer in favor of just collapsing back on the couch.

"It was just a dream, had to have been a dream. It couldn't be real cause…cause…uhm…just cause."

'_Yeah. That was a brilliant argument right there. It couldn't be real "just cause". Wow. How can anyone possibly refute that.'_

"I thought I told you to shove it."

"Do you always talk to yourself? Cause that's not exactly healthy you know."

"AAAAHHH!"

Duo jumped and tried to spin around as someone spoke directly behind him, his throwing knife from the wrist sheath already in hand. But unfortunately he had forgotten about the fact that his current position had very little room to maneuver, and ended up in a tangled heap between the couch and the coffee table. As he tried to figure out exactly how he had ended up on the floor, he found himself staring up at a grinning upside-down face.

"A little jumpy aren't you? That's okay, most people are after meeting Death." The directionally challenged face suddenly turned thoughtful. "Although some tend more towards the whole I-must-be-insane-so-you're-not-real thing, and you won't believe how annoying _that_ is. I much prefer jumpy to someone thinking that I am a deranged figment of their imagination. Jumpy tends to be more amusing at the very least."

The face, now positively identified as a she due to general appearance and voice, tilted slightly in consideration of Duo's persisting sprawled state.

"Are you in shock or just stuck? I can't tell until you at least try to move a little."

This statement finally managed to work its way past the shock and into Duo's consciousness, and he went into a swift scramble to right himself, bringing him face to face with the girl. Well, it was actually closer to face to forehead, as he had finally found someone shorter than he was. She was a few inches over four and a half feet, slender without being too thin, with straight auburn hair that brushed her shoulders. Grayish-green eyes sparkled at him from a freckled face as the decently well endowed -not a girl with that figure, but not really a woman yet either- smiled at him. He ignored the friendly image in favor of interrogating this person who had invaded his home.

"Who the hell are you and how the fuck did you get in here!"

"Well, looks like it was just shock. I am Kiri and I will be your keeper for however long you are in service to Death. And I came in through the front door, you really shouldn't leave it unlocked like that, it's just asking to be robbed."

Duo responded absently to one part of her statement, calming quickly at her tone despite himself, before he managed to actually process the rest of it in his mind. "I usually don't, I must have forgotten because I was…wait a minute, did you say I was in service to Death! And what do you mean with the 'you are my keeper' thing!"

She frowned as she studied him for a moment before speaking. "Yes, you are in service to Death, or you will be as soon as you agree to the terms of payment, and by saying that I am your keeper I was stating that I am the keeper who is assigned to you as long as you are paying off your debt to Death. What are you so worked up about? I would have thought that this would have already been covered when you met with Shinigami."

"No way, no way in _hell_, that was a fucking dream and that's it! It wasn't real, it can't be real. It was just…a fucking…DREAM!" Duo was panting slightly when he finished, from emotion more than anything else.

The girl, _'Kiri'_ his mind supplied, was watching him closely as he tried to get himself back under control. "If it was just a dream, then did you have that tattoo before?" She said as she pointed at the black marks on his chest.

He blinked at her and then sheathed his knife as he sat down on the coffee table behind him, his mind not quite able to keep up with the amount of weird shit that had happened to him in a too short period of time.

Kiri sighed and moved around the couch to sit across from him as he propped his arms on his knees and buried his face in his hands.

"Alright, for now let's just act on the assumption that what you saw was real, that you actually talked to the God of Death, that I am your keeper, and that you have to pay off a debt that doesn't involve money in any form. Okay?" At the slight nod from his bowed head she continued. "I was told that you are in debt because Shinigami bound himself to you in order to aid you in revenge against those who killed the people you loved, right?" He glanced up from his hands and nodded again. "When you spoke to him, what did he say about payment?"

Duo thought back to the not-a-dream that he had been trying so hard to forget just minutes before and dropped his hands to his lap as he raised his head slightly to answer. "He kept saying 'it is time to complete the deal', and that he needed 'my death or my life.'"

"Yeah, I'd figured it was probably a 'death or life' payment situation considering his end of the bargain. He didn't explain it, right?" She spoke in a tone that was part resignation, part irritation and then looked at Duo expectantly when she finished. At Duo quick head shake she snorted slightly and stood up in order to start pacing, her expression one of pure irritation. "Of course not. Why would the God of Death bother to explain anything as trivial as a debt payment for a soul-sharing. I should have indebted myself to Inari, at least he has a somewhat decent sense of responsibility. I mean, I would have been bored out of my mind dealing with babies and rice, and I probably would have ended up in a fox form, that wouldn't have been the best, but I could deal. But noooooo, I had to go and get myself stuck serving Shinigami with his little games and…and…GAH!"

Duo jumped slightly, wide eyed as Kiri's rant degenerated into irate muttering. He could no longer make any proper sense of the words, and he was pretty sure that she wasn't speaking in any language he knew. From her tone he kinda thought that his ignorance was probably for the best, especially if he wanted to retain anywhere near his previous state of mental health. After several minutes of inaudible muttering the keeper abruptly stopped mid-stride as she suddenly realized that she had left her explanation halfway done and sighed before turning back to him.

"Anyway, the deal is simple. Shinigami heard your request and responded with his aid, the request was completed in full, so you now have to repay the debt through some service to Shinigami. As it is, his part of the deal was completed through a soul-share with you." Kiri sighed at Duo blank stare and slipped into a lecturing tone as she continued. "He took a small portion of his soul and bonded it to yours, allowing him to aid you when you called upon that part of your soul. The bonding can not be reversed or undone until you die and pass on to the secondary realm. Because of that the debt for soul-sharing is rather large. There are only two ways to pay back the debt."

Kiri turned to look at Duo. Her expression was serious, the irritation and sarcasm of earlier forgotten in the gravity of the situation.

"The first option is to choose to die now, sending your soul to the immortal plane and pay off your debt by serving him for as long as your natural life would have lasted had you not gained a portion of a god's soul. The other option is to stay alive and do trouble-shooting for him on the mortal plane, but due to the nature of the soul-sharing you will live for quite a bit longer."

Duo finally managed to find his voice, though the majority of his mind seemed to have gotten stuck back at the start of the conversation. "A bit longer…how much of a bit?"

Kiri sighed. "Since the bonding happened when you were still a child, at best guess you'll live for roughly 100 cycles of your natural lifespan, give or take a decade or two."

Duo choked and stared at her in shock. "W…wh…WHAT!"

Kiri winced a little at the volume of his shout before answering. "You will live for approximately 100 cycles of what your natural lifespan would have been. As long as you aren't killed of course."

"Of course…" He murmured, still in shock. 100 cycles, that meant if he would have lived to be 80 he would end up living until he was 8,000 years old. Eight. Thousand. Years. He had barely expected to live to be old enough to legally drink and now he was going to live longer than most nations lasted. He suddenly realized that Kiri had started talking again and tried to focus on what she was saying in order to avoid thinking about thousands of years of being alone.

"Gods don't often soul-share. It's not looked down on or anything, and practically every deity has done it at least once, but it is a very rare occurrence because it weakens the god. Not a lot of course, a mortal simply can't handle enough power to significantly lower a god's energies, but still, it is a piece of an immortal's soul that is elsewhere. Gods do it because it allows them to view the mortal world freely and in a first person viewpoint. There are all sorts of rules about gods staying away from the mortals because of all the shit that used to happen when immortals _did_ live on the mortal plane. It just caused way too many problems. So in order to do anything within the mortal realm now, they have to send underlings, use portal mirrors to watch the world, or soul-share. Of course they still meddle hopelessly, but at least they aren't going and starting wars anymore just because they are bored." She gave him a look of what he supposed was meant to be shared exasperation over the whims of gods, but the fact that he apparently had a piece of a god in him had finally filtered into his brain and was currently taking up most of his attention. Her look of shared exasperation became one that was directed solely at him before she continued.

"No matter what your choice of payment, due to the fact that you are part of a soul-share, you will have a great deal of status in the other realms. You will also have a great deal of power, and your full markings will display that rather obviously."

"Full markings? What is that and why do I need one?" He had finally managed to work past the repeated shock and was a little nervous that the answer to his question might not be very conducive towards returning to stable mental ground, but he might as well get all the information he could.

She poked absently at the mark on his chest. "This right here is a basic marking that shows you are in service to Death and that he accepts you as his, well…vassal, for lack of a better term. A full marking is the same kind of thing, except it is usually bigger and has more components. It is made to reflect your status and power as a being associated with the secondary realm. Whatever version of payment you choose, he will end up giving you a full marking of some kind. Its design and function will depend on whether you choose to pay the debt in life or in death."

So he was going to get another tattoo, only bigger. Great. Maybe he should ask if they did piercings too.

Duo decided that he needed to talk about something that did not involve him getting marked as a servant to the God of Death, but what else could he talk about with someone sent to him by the God of Death? She might not even have been in this – what was she calling it – …realm, for the past few centuries. What could he bring up as something they could talk about if it wasn't his current dealings with Death? Well, if all else fails, try small talk. Since he didn't know if she could talk about anything recent, he decided to ask about her past.

"So…how do you become a keeper? Is it another way to do the whole payment thing or something?"

Kiri didn't look all that surprised that he had asked that. She had probably been expecting him to ask about something unrelated to their previous conversation, although this wasn't technically unrelated. "Not really. It's not payment, well…at least not in the way you mean. It's more like a recruitment kind of deal. At the moment of death some of us are given a choice. We can either die and have our souls travel on as normal, or we can serve a god as a keeper instead. There are benefits to becoming a keeper, and no penalties if you refuse, and after we fulfill the original agreement we can leave the post and do the whole after-death thing, so it's a pretty good deal all in all."

"Wait, if you only have the option at 'the moment of death', that means…you're dead?"

"Well…deadish, sure."

"Deadish? How the hell can you be _deadish_? You're either dead or you're not, there's no real in-between."

"Sure there's an in-between, I mean, if the God of Death says that you are not dead while at the same time you're not alive, you would have to be something in-between. So I'm deadish."

"So you're a zombie?" He eyed her a bit, she didn't look like a zombie, then again movies were his only reference so how the hell would he know what a zombie looked like.

She shook her head in exasperation. "No, I am not a zombie, a ghost, a walking corpse, or any other horror story creature you are thinking of bringing up. I am basically a spirit, a soul. This form is how I looked when I was alive, but it is not my actual body. I had to create this shape out of latent energies on this plane when I came here."

"Sooo…that's not an actual body."

"No, it's not. It has all the appearance and attributes of a real body, I can touch, and taste and everything, but it is only made up of energy. I don't have to eat or drink or even breathe if I don't want to."

Duo forced an exaggerated look of horror onto his face and went into an indignant rant out of a lack of other response options. "You don't _eat_! That's horrible! Food is one of the best parts of being alive!"

She laughed, a bright bubbly laugh that was very infectious, before she responded. "I don't _have_ to eat, but that doesn't mean I don't eat when I can."

Her laugh had made him smile, and her statement, said with a mischievous grin, only made that smile wider. "Then why don't we order some pizza, 'cause while you might only eat to enjoy it, I need to eat something before my stomach starts gnawing on my spine in desperation. And besides, it's a well known fact you can't make decisions on an empty stomach."

* * *

He ordered a pizza with everything on it and then split it down the middle with Kiri while watching reruns on TV. Kiri had apparently been on the mortal plane on and off for the past few centuries, so she knew enough pop culture to be able to comment on the various aspects of the shows. Duo was somewhat more occupied with trying to come to terms with what he had been told over the past few hours, leaving his side of the conversation much quieter than usual.

They had decided to call it a night when Duo began yawning every five minutes, and Kiri had taken the couch to sleep on, mainly because she didn't have to sleep at all, so any lack of sleep due to being on the couch instead of a bed wouldn't bother her in the slightest.

Duo had changed into the clothes he normally slept in and quickly brushed his teeth before collapsing on his bed, putting off his shower until tomorrow.

With nothing left to distract him, his thoughts turned to the choice he needed to make.

So he could die now and leave everyone behind, or he could live and watch everyone he knew die around him…again. God dammit. He just wasn't allowed to be normal, was he? He sighed, throwing his arm over his eyes.

"Well, looks like it's a no-brainer. Huzzah."

Before he drifted off into sleep he wondered what it felt like to live in terms of centuries instead of decades.

* * *

The night was warm without being humid, and the trees blocked out most of the city's lighting, so they could see the stars from their bench on the edge of the lake. Fireflies flickered in the air, and traffic noise was muted background static, barely noticed by either of the teenagers.

It was only their third formal date, although they had been going out for a few weeks now. He had come to her house, and her father had lectured him about treating his daughter right and coming back by curfew, while she applied a little too much eye makeup and ignored her mom's fussing. They had walked to the small pizzeria and had alternated between staring at each other and carefully looking elsewhere as they ate. He had lost track of time and they needed to hurry in order to catch the movie, but they managed to get there in time to sit down halfway through the previews.

The movie was a pointless pop-culture drama and neither of them could remember much of it. She had been concentrating on his arm around her shoulders and whether she had accidentally smudged her makeup or not, while he was completely distracted by the warmth of her body against his side and the sweet smell of her hair. It had still been early when the movie ended, so they both decided to go for a walk and ended up in the small park a short distance from her home.

They had been sitting there talking quietly and staring at the stars and each other for almost an hour, but neither of them was quite ready to go home yet.

It was when they were both just staring up at the sky that she decided to lay her head on his shoulder, and when he turned his head, they both stopped breathing as they stared at each other from only inches away. They edged forward into a kiss, and even though it was a little awkward with her nose at the wrong angle and his lips a bit too dry, to them it was perfect.

And as an unseen blade moved forward from the shadows into his heart, killing him instantly, his last thoughts were on how perfect this night had been. The girl screamed as her date stiffened in sudden shock and slid off the bench, his eyes already blank in death, blood spilling from the deep wound in his back. She screamed again as the shadowed figure standing behind the bench flicked his blade, blood scattering in drops from the edge. He moved his arm in a sweeping arc, the blade barely visible in the shadows, and the screams abruptly cut off in a startled cry as the girl fell to the ground besides the boy, blood draining from the slash across her neck.

Duo woke up staring at the ceiling, his eyes wide and unseeing, his face pale.

Just a dream, it had been just a dream. Just his subconscious taking creative liberties with his mind. It didn't mean anything, it was just a dream.

He kept that thought running through his head until his breathing slowed and his heart went back to beating at a normal pace. He closed his eyes and rolled onto his side, determined to ignore the dream the same way he had ignored his nightmares when he was younger. Despite his resolve, it was still over two hours before he managed to go back to sleep.

* * *

The next morningsaw the sun rising on what was guaranteed to be a gorgeous day. The air was crisp without being cold, the sky wasclear, and the breeze waslight. The birds were greeting the day in song, and their piping mixed with the quiet of the early morning was peaceful and calming to any who took a moment to listen. Unfortunately the two who were currently within Duo's apartment were disinclined to listen.

Duo stood outside the bathroom door in a pair of sleeping pants and a t-shirt, scowling as he hammered his fist against the door.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing in there?"

"What do you think? I'm taking a shower. Now leave me alone."

"A shower? You're a freakin' spirit-person! You don't even have a real body! Why the hell are you taking a shower?"

A yelled mishmash of profanity from several languages was his only answer, and with a lack of options, Duo stalked off to the kitchen, growling under his breath.

He slammed around the kitchen making his coffee, venting his early morning frustration on the cabinets. After almost a half an hour of growling and a cup and a half of coffee, he was finally feeling closer to normal, and was actually able to smile when Kiri walked into the kitchen with her damp hair sticking to her back and making the back of her shirt damp. She gave him a rueful smile and moved over to the counter to make herself a cup of coffee.

Pulling out a chair, she sat down at the table while she finished stirring in the sugar and then blew gently over the top of the liquid before taking a sip. A contented sigh followed. "I am still very much dependent on my old routine in the morning, even if I don't really _need_ to do it. An early shower is still the only way I can make it through the day feeling normal." She gave him another smile, this one more apologetic. "So, sorry for taking your bathroom, and…ah…sorry about the swearing too."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I feel the same way about mornings except I am more dependent on the coffee than the shower." He gave her a shit eating grin and then gulped down the remainder of his coffee before standing up. "I'm gonna take a shower, make yourself comfortable." Duo dropped his mug into the sink as he walked past it and then grabbed the end of his braid, unraveling it as he moved through the living room and into the bathroom. He planned on taking a long, hot, relaxing shower and giving his hair a full wash. To his mind, he more than deserved it. As he walked away he didn't glance back and so completely missed the speculative look on Kiri's face as she watched him head towards the bathroom.

* * *

"Shit! What the hell is that thing!"

Kiri sighed as Duo yelled…again. She liked the kid a lot, and he had handled the shock pretty well and had more than a fair share of power, but he was really uptight for someone who had played host to part of the God of Death's psyche. She ignored the memory of her own little shouting outburst that morning and put the book she had been flipping through back on the table. Glancing up as Duo did a stumbling charge into the room, she had to cover her mouth with her hands in order to keep herself from bursting out in laughter. Duo had his arms wrapped around his head, trying to protect his ears and face from the obviously otherworldly creature flitting around him. She supposed that Duo probably found the whole experience rather less humorous than she did, but the sight of him trying to run away from a little, black, flying kitten was just too much. Duo glared at her muffled giggles and flinched as the tiny cat tried to nuzzle at his ear.

"What is it? How did it get in here? What does it want? And _stop_ laughing dammit!"

Kiri managed to strangle back her giggles, although her response still held a rather amused tone. "It appears to be a flying cat, it most likely materialized from another plane, as to my knowledge flying cats are not normal here, and it seems to want you to pet it."

Duo winced as the ebony colored kitten pounced onto the top of his head, digging tiny claws into his scalp and pulling his hair. He quickly grabbed the creature before it could fly away again, and held it securely in both hands. The cat purred and rubbed its tiny nose against his fingers, its dark wings shifting against his palms as it moved.

"Why would it come here? I've never seen anything like it before." Duo marveled a bit at the soft fur and the tiny feathers, and then growled as the cat sank its very tiny, very _sharp_ teeth into the side of his hand.

"You probably haven't seen any creatures from other realms before this because you didn't have Shinigami's sign on you. Now that a god has marked you, they are a little less worried about you eating them or something and will most likely start coming around you more often."

"Eating them? Why the hell would they think I would eat them?"

"How should I know? Outer plane creatures are just always really uneasy about anyone who doesn't have a god's markings. I think it's mainly because they don't want to risk dealing with anyone who doesn't have a god making them take responsibility for their actions." Kiri bent down and peered at the kitten's golden eyes.

"Well that's nice, now what do I do with it?"

"You loosen your grip before you strangle the poor thing, pet it, and then go find out if it likes tuna or not."

A ringing from the next room drew Duo attention from the conversation and interrupted his sarcastic response to Kiri's statement. He relaxed his hold on the wiggling feline just enough that it managed to squirm out of his grip. Falling from his hands, it only barely managed to keep itself from hitting the floor, and then resumed flying circles around the room.

Determined to ignore the antics of his newest intruder, Duo stomped into his tiny office, muttering under his breath about unnatural creatures. He went over to his cluttered desk and checked the vid screen, sighing at the familiar number blinking on the display. He briefly paused to calm himself down, glanced back to make sure that all the other occupants of his apartment had stayed in the living room, and then opened up the vid feed. Bright blue eyes and blonde hair popped up on the screen and Quatre gave a brilliant smile in greeting.

/Duo!/

Duo's smile grew broader and more relaxed at the excitement and happiness in the other ex-pilot's voice. He couldn't help but be caught up in Quatre's personality. "Hey Quat. What's up?"

/I just wanted to call and see what you were doing for your winter break. I had Trowa help me persuade the circus to come to L4 for a few weeks, so Trowa and Catherine are already going to be here, and Wufei is taking two weeks leave at the end of the year to visit as well. Sally said she would drop by some time if her schedule allowed it, and even Howard said he might come. We haven't gotten together in so long and I know all the others want to see you as much as I do…/

Duo laughed at the constant stream of words that Quatre had managed to produce. "Breathe, Kat, breathe. Save the convincing for someone who needs it. I don't have anything in the way of plans for break, and I wouldn't miss a reunion even if I did. Don't worry, I'll be there."

Quatre almost beamed happiness through the screen. /That's great Duo! We can all…all, uh…Duo?/

"Yeah Kat, what is it?" Duo was a little worried, Quatre looked surprised and a little stunned, almost as if he didn't believe what he was seeing. "Is something wrong?"

/Duo…is that a…kitten…above your head?/ Quatre spoke in almost a whisper, as if he were afraid of being overheard.

"What?" Duo looked up instinctively, already fearing that he knew what he was going to see. And sure enough, he was looking straight up at black fur and golden eyes held aloft by black wings. Only one thought came to mind as he glanced back at Quatre's shocked face.

'Oh shit.'

TBC...

* * *

Okay. First of all, I'm sorry about the whole second chapter update thing. I had done a little editing, mostly grammar, and was going to repost that chapter when I added this one, but my internet connection cut out when I tried to add this chapter too. I'm really sorry about that to anyone who got confused or annoyed by it. Anyway, I seem to have a weird fondness for cliff-hanger chapters with one line endings, though this one was more or less because I wasn't quite certain how I was going to play out the rest of the last scene. Oh well, I'll figure out something. 'Til next chapter, Sayonara.


	4. Conversations about Conversations

_Payment on the Past_

By Shadowed Seas

**Important note** (sort of): At the time of posting this chapter I went back and did some minor editing of the previous chapters. While the editing is mostly grammatical and almost nothing has changed plot wise, I just wanted to inform anyone who was reading this that there were in fact some changes made to earlier chapters, specifically Kiri's appearance in the last chapter. On to the normal stuff.

Author's Note: Sorry about the long delay but life decided to come and bitch slap me, so I have been otherwise occupied for a while. I'm going to try and make these notes shorter, just on general principle, so here's the next chapter, hope it's alright. Also, thanks to _Arexia_, _jueru2003_, _Mandapandalikestoeatchicken..._, _K.L.W._, _Thursday's Dove_, and S_harkSwimmer05_ for reviewing. Here's what you wanted.

Warning: This chapter contains language, violence, death, and general freakiness. Other than that there's not much else to warn about that hasn't been already covered.

Disclaimer: I can't afford anything so I disclaim everything. Except my pants. I own my pants.

**Chapter 4: Conversations about Conversations**

_/Duo…is that a…kitten…above your head?/ Quatre spoke in almost a whisper, as if he were afraid of being overheard. _

_"What?" Duo looked up instinctively, already fearing that he knew what he was going to see. And sure enough, he was looking straight up at black fur and golden eyes held aloft by black wings. Only one thought came to mind as he glanced back at Quatre's shocked face. _

_'Oh shit.' _

* * *

Before Duo could finish truly contemplating the horror of trying to explain an alter-dimensional gravity-defying flying kitten, an arm intruded on his upward gaze and with a shout of "Attack from above!" he was thrown sideways into the desk chair as the kitten, arm, and the rest of a person slammed into him.

Right as his mind caught up to the situation and told him to do something, _anything_, to stop what he knew was about to happen, a giggle and a bright "Hi there! I'm Kiri." came from slightly above and to his right. Pushing himself into a somewhat more normal position only confirmed his fears. Quatre was now smiling warmly at his new undead guest and the winged cat in her arms. Before he could do anything to stop this disaster from getting any worse, Quatre started talking.

/Very nice to meet you. My name is Quatre, I'm a friend of Duo's. That was a very…interesting method of getting his attention./

"Thank you! I thought it was pretty good myself." Duo just stared blankly as she giggled and leaned forward conspiratorially. "And he is usually so much more alert."

Quatre actually laughed at that one, causing Duo to stare at the vid-screen. /That he is. Have you known Duo long? I had hoped that he was meeting new people at the university, but he hasn't talked much about anyone before and I was getting a little worried that he was having problems with the people there./

"Oh no, he isn't having any problems at all! I just met him a little while ago, but we're getting along great together. He is such a sweet guy. He is even letting me stay with him until I can find an affordable apartment! All the housing around here is so expensive and I just could not pay for my own place yet."

Duo just resigned himself to staring at the two of them as Quatre commiserated with her on the price of apartments, and wondered what the hell had just happened. He was sure that this was not a good a thing, and that he should stop the conversation as soon as possible before something really bad happened, but he couldn't come up with anything beyond shooting out the vid-phone. The conversation had turned from apartments to travel and then, to his horror, to the get together Quatre had just invited him to.

/…it's not really a party or anything. We just haven't seen each other in a while and I thought it would be nice to have a little reunion since we all have some free time. So a bunch of us are staying together for a week or so at a house I own./

"Sounds like a great idea to me! It is always nice to keep in touch with good friends."

/If you are not doing anything over the break, you are more than welcome to come as well. I'm sure the others would be happy to meet you!/

Duo froze and his mind went from horror stricken to panic mode before Quatre had finished talking. "Quat, I'm sure Kiri had other plans already made. After all it's only a few weeks away and most people are really busy this time of year-"

"Duo, don't be ridiculous!" Kiri interrupted his try for a safer conversational direction and grinned at him in a manner that conveyed, very clearly, that he would be safer if he stayed out of this conversation. Then, leaving him silent once more, she turned back to the screen to smile in a much nicer and saner manner at Quatre. "I would love to come and I have to thank you for inviting me."

/Great! I'll make sure everything is arranged for you two. It will be nice to meet you in person./

"Thank you. It will be nice to really meet you too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go see if this little guy is hungry." She lifted the kitten up and nuzzled his face against hers. "It was great talking to you Quatre. I'll see you soon."

/Bye Kiri!/ Quatre paused as Kiri moved out of pickup range and coughed slightly in order to get Duo's attention back from staring at the disturbing houseguest who had just made herself part of his vacation plans. /She seemed very nice…why haven't I heard about her before?/ Quatre asked with a raised eyebrow that completely ruined his attempt at looking innocent. Duo was unfortunately more familiar with this look than he had ever wanted to be and the fact that Quatre was using it now meant that there was some kind of plan in the making that Duo had best find a way of avoiding.

"I just met her Quat, it's not like there is anything to tell." Duo was in full 'holy-shit' mode as he tried to put together a coherent story that did not involve the words Shinigami, death, flying kitten, ghost, or girlfriend, all while still not lying. Well the part about not having a girlfriend wouldn't be a lie, but he didn't want to give Quatre any ideas. "She's new to the area and doesn't really have a place to stay, so she's crashing here for awhile." That was true enough. Now…subject change! "So this party thing, how many people are coming?" Quatre gave him a look that clearly said he knew what Duo was doing but he was going to ignore it anyway, before launching into a list of guests that were coming for just the party and who was staying at the house afterwards. Duo nodded at the right intervals and kept about half his attention on what Quatre was saying while the rest of his concentration went to the reason why the flying kitten that had been above his head just minutes earlier had seemed to be completely forgotten.

He still hadn't found any good explanation for Quatre either not mentioning or forgetting about the cat when he ended the call several minutes later. Fortunately for Duo, the person who had the best chance of explaining it was currently feeding the winged cat a can of tuna in the kitchen. Unfortunately for Duo's sanity, she was doing it while floating a foot _above_ the table and tossing pieces of tuna for the cat to catch. His entrance into the room was heralded by an almost bird-like chirp from the cat, which abruptly changed direction in midair and dove towards him while the piece of tuna it had been diving for landed on the floor with a plop. Duo managed to grab the kitten out of mid-air before it went for his hair again, and it seemed quite happy to be held while it gnawed on his index finger. He winced and wondered why the cat seemed to enjoy chewing on him so much, but figured his hand was better than his head.

Kiri put the remainder of the tuna on the table under her before gazing at Duo with a mischievous look and a smug smile. He just sighed and sat down at the table. Clearly he should have tried harder to kill myself during the war, he would probably be in a much more comfortable position now if he had. "Alright, now explain." Her grin widened slightly, because of his words or his tone he really didn't know and wasn't sure he wanted to.

"Explain what exactly?"

"Don't go stupidly annoying on me, I invented stupidly annoying. Why didn't Quatre ask anything about the kitten? Like how it could possibly have wings perhaps?"

"He couldn't see the wings, so he wouldn't have any questions about them, now would he?" She sighed at his uncomprehending stare. "People can't see anything that doesn't originate from their own dimension; it is one of the basic parameters of inter-dimensional contact. The fact that he could see the kitten at all is a bit unusual, but there are people who are more sensitive to that sort of thing so it isn't too surprising. He couldn't see the wings because he _knows_ that cats don't have wings. It's an impossibility in this realm, so he couldn't see it. This realm _does_ have kittens, so he did see that as it was, but he couldn't explain how it was up in the air. When I grabbed it and brought it down into my arms, he rationalized that I must have been holding it the entire time. It doesn't matter that he never saw my hand before I jumped into the shot, a kitten can't fly so he will rationalize the whole incident away as something completely logical to him."

Duo looked down at the black ball of feathers and fur in his hands as he thought through the semantics of Kiri's explanation. Then he sighed and gave up, putting it in his new mental file, 'Completely Illogical Shit to be Dealt With Later.' The number of things that fell under that heading was getting depressingly large lately. Deciding to let the whys of sometimes invisible kittens go, he addressed the other pressing matter on his mind. "So…why exactly are you coming with me to Quatre's over the break?"

Kiri put her feet down on the table and stood up as levitating was something she did everyday (_and she may very well do it everyday _the little voice in the back of Duo's head pointed out), and hopped down to the floor before answering. "I am just preparing for all eventualities." At his blank look she explained further. "If you do choose to serve out your payment in this realm, then I will have to stay around to help and advise you. I will need to have a plausible reason for staying with you or people will start getting suspicious about my presence. These people you are meeting with are some of your closer friends, right? Then I have to get to know them just as much as I have to get to know the people around here." She went from reasonable explanation mode to angry woman mode in record time as her eyes narrowed and her hands ended up on her hips. "And if you decide to stay alive long enough to go to the party there is no way I am letting you go anywhere by yourself until I am sure you are trained in dealing with beings from other realms."

He sighed and started stroking the cat, causing it to purr loudly against his fingers as it stretched and snuggled into his hand.

"Fine, whatever. I'm going to go fix my hair and then do some work."

He let go of the kitten, who flew up to perch gently on his shoulder, as he walked out of the kitchen, leaving Kiri to stare at the empty doorway.

* * *

His hair rebraided and left unmolested by the now docile seeming kitten, who was once again on his shoulder, Duo attempted to work on some of his school work that was due in the next week, but his attention kept wandering away from the advanced circuitry he was looking at. He already knew that he would be serving out his time by working for the God of Death in the world of the living over the next several thousand years, but he really hadn't thought about what that meant. Kiri had mentioned dealing with other dimensional beings, but what did that _mean_.

_'It means you're an idiot for not asking earlier.'_

'I wasn't talking to you, so shut up.'

_'Don't get pissy at me because you didn't want to ask more questions earlier. Now, just think about what you've found out so far. Shinigami wants people to work for him in this realm, and it seems that he wants them to work a lot longer here than in his realm. The job was called trouble shooting at one point, and now it looks like you're going to have to "deal with beings from other realms." Right?'_

'Yeah. So that means…'

_'It means damage control, and who knows what **that** means for the dead, undead, and god only knows what else.'_

'Yeah, but which god?'

_'Oh look at that, you made a funny. I'm dieing of laughter. Ha. Ha. Ha. And ha.'_

'Shove it.'

_'Why don't you try and make me. That should be interesting.'_

"God I should not be having this conversation without a straight jacket."

Duo realized that he had said the last comment aloud only when the quiet purring next to his ear broke off into a surprised chirp. He lifted the kitten from his shoulder and held it gently as he stroked its back. After a few minutes, and the resumed purring of the small fluff ball, he lifted the cat to eye level and really looked it over. It fur and feathers were that perfectly dark black that seemed to shimmer with dark blue when the light hit it just right. The kitten's eyes were shifting pools of amber and gold that gazed up at him with an intelligence that was far beyond any normal cat's. Duo contemplated the delicate change between soft fur and feathers on its back as he continued to pet it.

"Don't worry, I'm not crazy yet, or at least not too crazy. Though whether I would be able to tell if I was crazy is debatable." He sighed and started scratching the cat's ears. "You're kind of cute when you're not attacking my hair." The cat leaned against his fingers and purred louder as Duo kept scratching.

"If you plan on staying around I should have something to call you instead of 'you' or 'kitten' or whatever. I've never really had a pet to name…how about Blackie?" The kitten moved its head from his fingers and scrunched its nose at him. "Oookay…that's a no I guess. Um, let's see…Neko? No? Gato? Hane? Noir? Fluffy? Ow!" Duo quickly pulled away the hand that had been bitten by the cat at the last suggestion. "Fine then, how about Kage? I think it means shadow or dark or something like that." The kitten tilted its head as if contemplating the name for a moment, and then starting purring again. "Alright, Kage it is then."

So now he had an other-dimensional pet flying kitten, an undead room-mate who was going to train him to deal with things from other worlds, and a debt to the God of Death that would take around 8,000 years to pay off. How could things get any worse?

Duo winced and immediately wished he hadn't thought that. One life lesson he had learned with a vengeance over the years was that it can always get worse, and often did.

TBC…

* * *

There's chapter 4. I know it is short and I know I haven't posted in a really long time. I really am sorry about the length and the delay, I swear I was doing important stuff. I don't know how often I will be able to update in the future, but I will not drop this story, or any unfinished story I may start in the future. It is something that really annoys me in others so I will strive to not do it myself. I may take forever and a day to update…but I will not drop a story. Not sure if that is much better…but oh well. Also, in the first paragraph of this chapter I did a little bit of homage to an online comic that I used to read, mainly because it seemed to fit. Any guesses as to the comic I referenced? That's all for now, 'til next time…Jaa mata!


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